Mustafa Amini: Australia’s New Shining Talent

In July 2011 Bundesliga Champions Borussia Dortmund signed a relative unknown Australian midfielder by the name of Mustafa Amini, he of the red afro and plenty of energy to burn.

Amini, born on April the 20th 1993 in Sydney New South Wales, to an Afghani (father) and Nicaraguan (mother), is one of Australia’s shining talents and is definitely a star of the future.

Amini grew up in the Western suburbs of Sydney where he started his career as a junior at Blacktown City, before joining the renown Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 2009, which is famous for developing Bundesliga players Robbie Kruse, Nikita Rukavytsya and Amini’s new Dortmund teammate Mitch Langerak, plus many more.

During his one year spell the 173 centimetre attacking midfielder attracted the interest from the Young Socceroos, the Australian Under-20’s side, by Dutch Coach Jan Versleijen, before A-League side the Central Coast Mariners gave Amini his first professional contract at the age of 16.

Despite only playing one professional season with the Mariners, Amini attracted the interest from Dortmund and travelled to Germany for a two-week trial before the Under 20 World Cup in Colombia. Dortmund Coach Jürgen Klopp and co was impressed with the Australian and subsequently signed the playmaker to a four-year deal stating that Amini “is a really great talent”. But the Black and Yellows immediately loaned the talented midfielder back to Central Coast.

In that season on loan Amini was part of Central Coast A-League premiership winning side in the 2011-12 season which included winning the A-League Young Player of the Month award for December, before finishing third in the Asian Champions League Group Stage where Amini scored a fantastic drive against Chinese side Tianjin Teda. Amini has featured in a total of 45 matches in all competitions for the A-League side, scoring four goals.

The 19-year-old possesses a great touch, quick feet and has the eye to pick out a teammate, but would need to use those traits in the Dortmund second side, Borussia Dortmund II, as Klopp already has a number of great attacking midfielders in his ranks,including Mario Gӧtze, Marco Reus, Ivan Perisic and Moritz Leitner. And with plenty of time on Amini’s side, the midfielder who speaks fluent Spanish and Dari will need to be patient.

However the starlet has already been given a chance to impress with Die Schwarzgelben in preseason and took his chance with both hands starting and scoring against SV Meppen, before taking a place on the bench against Bayern München in the German Super Cup defeat to Die Bayern. He played with the first team in test matches with Preussen Munster, Legia Warsaw, St. Gallen and RW Erfurt, and is listed on both the senior and reserve rosters for BvB, although he has yet to feature in any of the first five matches for the reserve side in 3. Liga.

With fellow Australian Langerak already at the club, Amini should adapt to Dortmund life quickly, while pushing for a first-team spot and providing a good stepping stone to his potential Socceroos career.

Daniel is a football writer living in Melbourne, Australia, covering the domestic A-League and various European leagues. Daniel works hard and is determined to fulfil his dream of a professional sports journalist. Follow Daniel on twitter @Quinby07

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